# # jss style # knitr::opts_chunk$set(prompt=TRUE, echo = TRUE, highlight = FALSE, continue = " + ", comment = "") # options(replace.assign=TRUE, width=90, prompt="R> ") # rmd style knitr::opts_chunk$set( collapse = FALSE, comment = "#>", warning = FALSE, message = FALSE, fig.pos = "H" )
Data collected in streams frequently exhibit unique patterns of spatial
autocorrelation resulting from the branching network structure,
longitudinal (i.e., upstream/downstream) connectivity, directional
water flow, and differences in flow volume upstream of junctions
(i.e., confluences) in the network
[@peterson2013modelling]. In addition, stream networks are embedded
within geographic (i.e., 2-D) space, with the terrestrial landscape
often having a strong influence on observations collected on
the stream network. @ver2010moving describe how to fit spatial
statistical models on stream networks (i.e., spatial stream-network
models) that capture the unique and complex spatial dependencies
inherent in streams. These stream network models can be fit
using the 'SSN2' R package [@dumelle2024SSN2]. To use 'SSN2', however, users must
provide the spatial, topological, and attribute data in a specific format called
an SSN
object. The 'SSNbler' R package, which we introduce here, is an adaptation
of the STARS ArcGIS toolset [@peterson2014stars] for the R programming language. 'SSNbler' generates
formats, assembles, and validates SSN
objects that can be used for statistical
modeling in 'SSN2'.
In this vignette, we use 'SSNbler' to create the SSN
object
MiddleFork04.ssn
used by 'SSN2'. First, we load 'SSNbler' into our current
R session.
library(SSNbler)
A few input datasets are included in the 'SSNbler' package:
MF_streams
: An sf
object with LINESTRING
geometry
representing a portion of the Middle Fork stream network in Idaho, USA.MF_obs
: An sf
object with POINT
geometry containing observed
summer mean stream temperature observations at 45
unique locations on MF_streams
.MF_pred1km
: An sf
object with POINT
geometry containing
unsampled locations spaced at one-kilometer intervals throughout
MF_streams
. This prediction dataset represents 175 locations where
predictions of some response variable (i.e., temperature) may be
desired.MF_CapeHorn
: An sf
object with POINT
geometry containing
654 unsampled locations spaced at 10-meter intervals throughout
Cape Horn Creek in MF_streams
.To provide context, the observed data in MF_obs
will be used to build statistical
models and make predictions at the locations in MF_pred1km
and
MF_CapeHorn
using the R package 'SSN2'. Documentation for each dataset can be found by running help()
. For example,
to learn more about MF_streams
, run help("MF_streams", package = "SSNbler")
.
While these datasets come with 'SSNbler' and can be loaded via data()
,
we focus here on a more realistic
workflow for the user. We start with a collection of spatial datasets
installed alongside 'SSNbler' in the streamsdata
folder that represent the Middle Fork stream network.
In streamsdata
are GeoPackages (more on this later) representing
the stream network, observed data,
and prediction data (optional) required to create an SSN
object. To prevent 'SSNbler'
functions from reading and writing to this folder, we copy it to R's
temporary directory and store the path to this folder:
copy_streams_to_temp() path <- paste0(tempdir(), "/streamsdata")
Then we can read in the relevant data using st_read
from the 'sf' R
package [@pebesma2018sf], which comes installed alongside
'SSNbler'. Note that the input data can be in any vector data format
that can be imported into R and stored as an sf
object with LINESTRING
or POINT
geometry (e.g., shapefile, GeoJSON, GeoPackage, SpatiaLite,
PostGIS).
library(sf) MF_streams <- st_read(paste0(path, "/MF_streams.gpkg")) MF_obs <- st_read(paste0(path, "/MF_obs.gpkg")) MF_pred1km <- st_read(paste0(path, "/MF_pred1km.gpkg")) MF_CapeHorn <- st_read(paste0(path, "/MF_CapeHorn.gpkg"))
Notice that the line (MF_Streams
) and point features (MF_obs
,
MF_pred1km
, and MF_CapeHorn
) have LINESTRING
and POINT
geometry types, which are required in 'SSNbler'. If these datasets had MULTILINESTRING
or
MULTIPOINT
geometry types, the 'sf' function st_cast
could be used to convert to
the required geometry types. All of the input data have an Albers Equal Area Conic projection (EPSG
102003) and distances are measured in meters. It is important that all
input datasets have the same map projection, which must be a projected coordinate system and not
a geographic coordinate system measured in Latitude and
Longitude. The 'sf' function st_transform
can be used to
reproject sf
objects in R.
We previously mentioned these data are stored in streamsdata
in a
GeoPackage format. GeoPackages, like shapefiles, are a way to store spatial data. We
prefer GeoPackages over shapefiles because they offer better support
for high precision numeric data compared to the traditional DBF
(dBASE) format (used in shapefiles), which limits the precision to 10 decimal places when writing (not reading)
to local files from R. This is problematic because several important columns
'SSNbler' adds and 'SSN2' uses contain very small values ranging from zero to
one. If these columns are truncated it can lead to
difficult-to-diagnose errors when models are fit in
'SSN2'. GeoPackages do not have this limitation. To learn more about GeoPackages, visit here.
Before working with any of the input files, we visualize the stream network, observed sites, and prediction sites using the R package 'ggplot2' [@wickham2016ggplot2].
library(ggplot2) ggplot() + geom_sf(data = MF_streams) + geom_sf(data = MF_CapeHorn, color = "gold", size = 1.7) + geom_sf(data = MF_pred1km, colour = "purple", size = 1.7) + geom_sf(data = MF_obs, color = "blue", size = 2) + coord_sf(datum = st_crs(MF_streams))
In the figure above, there are two subnetworks from MF_Streams
(black lines).
Point features from MF_obs
(blue dots) and MF_pred1km
(purple dots) are
found on both networks, while MF_CapeHorn
point features (yellow dots) are only found on one
of the two networks.
'SSNbler' makes use of a data structure called a Landscape Network (LSN), which is a type of graph used to represent spatial context and relationships with additional geographic information [@theobald2006functional]. In a LSN, streams are represented as a collection of directed edges, where the directionality is determined by the digitized direction of the line features. Nodes are located at the end points of edges (i.e., end nodes) and represent topologic breaks in the edges. For a more detailed description of the LSN, see @peterson2014stars.
There are four topologically valid node categories in a LSN:
knitr::include_graphics("valid_nodes.png")
Each edge is associated with two nodes, which correspond to the
upstream and downstream end nodes of the edge. When more than one edge
flows into or out of the node, they share a node. Thus, there should
always be a single node at the intersection of edges. If there is more
or less than one node at an intersection, it is a topological
error. If these errors are not corrected, the connectivity between
line features and the observed and prediction sites associated with
them will not be accurately represented in the SSN
object or the
spatial statistical models subsequently fit to the data. In this
vignette, we assume that MF_streams
has already been checked and
topologically corrected. Two tutorials have been created with detailed
instructions about identifying and correcting topological errors in the
LSN, as well as other topological restrictions that are not permitted
(please see 'Correcting topological errors using SSNbler and QGIS' or
'Correcting topological errors using SSNbler and ArcGIS Pro'). These tutorials
are available for download within the relevant folders on GitHub at
this link.
The LSN is created using the lines_to_lsn()
function, which generally requires these arguments:
streams
: An sf
object with LINESTRING
geometry that represents the stream network.lsn_path
: A path to the directory in which the LSN
output files will be stored. This directory will be created if it does not exist.check_topology
: Logical indicating whether to check for
topological errors in streams
.snap_tolerance
: Two nodes separated by a Euclidean distance $\le$
snap_tolerance
will be assumed connected. Distance is measured in map units (i.e., projection units for streams
).topo_tolerance
: Two nodes separated by a Euclidean distance $\le$ topo_tolerance
are flagged as potential topological errors in the network.We create a LSN associated with MF_streams
by running
## Set path for new folder for lsn lsn.path <- paste0(tempdir(), "/mf04") edges <- lines_to_lsn( streams = MF_streams, lsn_path = lsn.path, check_topology = TRUE, snap_tolerance = 0.05, topo_tolerance = 20, overwrite = TRUE )
The lines_to_lsn()
function writes a minimum of five files to lsn_path
:
nodes.gpkg
: A GeoPackage with POINT
geometry features
representing LSN nodes. It contains a unique node identifier column,
pointid
, and another column named nodecat
, which contains the node type (pseudonode, confluence, source, outlet).edges.gpkg
: A GeoPackage with LINESTRING
geometry features
representing LSN edges, which contains all of the columns in
streams
and a unique edge (i.e., reach) identifier column named rid
.nodexy.csv
: A comma-separated value (csv) file with the pointid
and x and y coordinates for each node.noderelationships.csv
: A csv file with three columns used to
describe the directional relationship between nodes and edges. The
column rid
is the edge identifier, while the fromnode
and tonode
contain the pointid
value for the upstream and downstream node,
respectively.relationships.csv
: A csv file that describes the directional
relationship between edges using two columns named fromedge
and
toedge
, which contain the edge rid
values.Together these five files describe the geographic and topological relationships between edges in the network, while preserving flow direction.
When check_topology = TRUE
, lines_to_lsn()
also checks the
topology of the network. When potential topological errors are
identified, they are saved at the location specified by lsn_path
as a GeoPackage named node_errors.gpkg
with POINT
geometry.
It is important to pay attention to the output messages from
lines_to_lsn()
that are printed to the R console. In this example, the
message is
No obvious topological errors detected and node_errors.gpkg was NOT created.
This suggests that the LSN edges are error-free, but
it is still a good idea in practice to visually assess maps of the node nodecat
values to look for obvious errors, as described in the topology
editing tutorials mentioned previously. If node_errors.gpkg
was created, then potential
topological errors were identified, which must be checked and
corrected before moving on to the next spatial processing steps.
After creating the error-free LSN using lines_to_lsn()
, observed and
prediction datasets are incorporated into the LSN using
sites_to_lsn()
. The function snaps (i.e., moves) point locations to
the closest edge location and generates new information describing the
topological relationships between edges and sites in the
LSN. sites_to_lsn()
generally requires these arguments:
sites
: An sf
object with POINT
geometry that contains the
observed or prediction locations.edges
: An sf
object containing the edges in the LSN generated
using lines_to_lsn()
.snap_tolerance
: A numeric distance in map units. If the
distance to the nearest edge feature is less than or equal to snap_tolerance
, sites
are snapped to the relevant edge. If the distance to the
nearest edge feature is greater than snap_tolerance
, the point feature is not
snapped to an edge or included in the output.save_local
: If TRUE
(the default), the snapped sites are written
to lsn_path
with name specified by file_name
.lsn_path
: A path to the directory where the LSN created via lines_to_lsn()
is stored.file_name
: Output file name for the snapped sites, which are saved
in lsn_path
in GeoPackage format.We run sites_to_lsn
for the MF_obs
(observed) data:
obs <- sites_to_lsn( sites = MF_obs, edges = edges, lsn_path = lsn.path, file_name = "obs", snap_tolerance = 100, save_local = TRUE, overwrite = TRUE )
In the code above, sites_to_lsn()
writes a GeoPackage named obs.gpkg
to
lsn_path
and also returns these snapped sites as an sf
object named obs
. The new
dataset contains the original columns in sites
and three new columns:
rid
: The edge rid
value where the snapped site resides.ratio
: Describes the site location on the edge. It is calculated
by dividing the length of the edge found between the downstream end node and the site location by the total edge length.snapdist
: The Euclidean distance in map units the site was moved.The rid
value provides information about where a site is in relation
to all of the other edges and sites in an LSN, while the ratio
value
can be used to identify where exactly a site is on the edge. Note
that the sites_to_lsn
function must be run for each dataset, even if the site
locations already intersect edge features.
It is important to pay attention to the message output in the R
console because it indicates how many of the sites were successfully
snapped to the LSN. In this case, the message says Snapped 45 out of 45 sites to LSN
.
If some sites were not snapped, the
snap_tolerance
value should be increased until all sites are
snapped. The snapdist
column can then be used to identify sites that were
moved relatively large distances to ensure they were snapped to the
correct edge.
Prediction datasets (optional) represent spatial locations where
predictions from a spatial stream-network model may be desired. They
are optional, but must also be incorporated into the LSN
using sites_to_lsn()
before predictions can be made using a fitted model. We add the MF_pred1km
and MF_capehorn
prediction datasets to the LSN by running
preds <- sites_to_lsn( sites = MF_pred1km, edges = edges, save_local = TRUE, lsn_path = lsn.path, file_name = "pred1km.gpkg", snap_tolerance = 100, overwrite = TRUE ) capehorn <- sites_to_lsn( sites = MF_CapeHorn, edges = edges, save_local = TRUE, lsn_path = lsn.path, file_name = "CapeHorn.gpkg", snap_tolerance = 100, overwrite = TRUE )
Note that a LSN can contain an unlimited number of prediction
datasets, but only one set of observations. The sites_to_lsn
function must be run separately for every observed and prediction
dataset. While this may at first seem tedious, it provides the user
the opportunity to examine each output dataset individually, ensuring
that all sites are snapped to the LSN and the correct edge feature.
The lines_to_lsn
and sites_to_lsn
functions are used to produce a
topologically corrected LSN containing edges, observed sites, and
prediction sites (optional). This LSN provides the foundation for all
of the remaining spatial data processing steps and the spatial
statistical models. Creating the LSN is often the most time-consuming
step in the spatial statistical modelling workflow, especially if the
edges or sites contain a large number of features or the stream
network has many topological errors. However, it is critical that the
spatial and topological relationships are accurately represented in
the LSN and the subsequent spatial statistical models.
The LSN created using lines_to_lsn()
and sites_to_lsn()
is stored in memory
and also in a local folder
defined using lsn_path
. The LSN contains at least six components. The edges, nodes, and observed sites contain the spatial
features and attribute data within each dataset, while the three
tables (nodexy, noderelationships, and relationships) describe the
relationships between edges and sites. These tables are not stored
in memory but are accessed by subsequent 'SSNbler'
functions. Prediction datasets may also be included in the LSN if
desired. By default, all 'SSNbler' functions will update the files stored
locally in lsn_path
and return an updated sf
object. However, the save_local
argument can be set to FALSE in most functions if the user would
prefer not to save results locally.
| LSN Component | In Memory | Local LSN Directory |
|:----------------------------|:---------------------------------|:------------------------|
| edges | sf object, LINESTRING
geometry | GeoPackage |
| observed sites | sf object, POINT
geometry | GeoPackage |
| prediction sites (optional) | sf object, POINT
geometry | GeoPackage |
| nodes | | GeoPackage |
| nodexy table | | csv file |
| noderelationship table | | csv file |
| relationships table | | csv file |
Table: LSN components are stored in memory as sf
objects and also in a
local LSN directory as GeoPackages and comma separated value (csv) files, which are accessed using other SSNbler functions.
Once the LSN has been created, the next steps are to calculate the information needed to fit spatial stream-network models.
The "upstream distance" represents the hydrologic distance (i.e., distance between locations when movement is restricted to the stream network) between the network outlet and each feature. For an edge, the distance is measured to the upstream end node of the line feature. The upstream distance for the $j$th edge, $upDist_j$, is:
$$ upDist_j = \sum_{k \in D_j}{L_k}, $$
where $L_j$ is the length of each edge and $D_j$ is the set of edges found in the path between the network outlet and the $j$th edge, including the $j$th edge.
The upstream distance for each edge is calculated using the
updist_edges()
function, which generally requires these arguments:
edges
: An sf
object containing the edges in the LSN generated
using lines_to_lsn()
.save_local
: A logical indicating whether the updated edges should
be saved to lsn_path
in GeoPackage format. Default is TRUE.lsn_path
: LSN
pathname where edges
and relationships.csv
are
stored locally.calc_length
: A logical indicating whether a column representing
line length should be calculated and added to edges
. It is
important to set calc_length = TRUE
if the edge features have been edited.edges <- updist_edges( edges = edges, save_local = TRUE, lsn_path = lsn.path, calc_length = TRUE ) names(edges) ## View edges column names
Two columns are added to edges and saved in edges.gpkg
. Length
represents the
length of each edge in map units and upDist
is the upstream distance
for each edge.
For sites, the upstream distance is calculated a little differently because it is the hydrologic distance between the network outlet and each site. The upstream distance for site $i$, $upDist_i$, is calculated as: $$ upDist_i = r_i L_i + \sum_{k \in D^*_j}{L_k}, $$
where $r_i$ is the ratio
value for $site_i$, $L_i$ is the length of
the edge $site_i$ resides on, and $D^*_j$ is the set of edges found in
the path between the network outlet and $site_i$, excluding the edge $site_i$
resides on.
Upstream distance is calculated for each site using the
updist_sites()
function, which generally requires a few arguments:
sites
: A named list of one or more sf
objects with POINT
geometry, which have been incorporated into the LSN using sites_to_lsn()
.edges:
An sf
object representing edges that have been
processed using lines_to_ssn()
and updist_edges()
.length_col
: The name of the column in edges
that represents edge
length.save_local
: A logical indicating whether the updated sites should
be saved to lsn_path
in GeoPackage format. Default is TRUE.lsn_path
: The LSN pathname where the sites
and edges
GeoPackages reside. Must be specified if save_local
is TRUE.site.list <- updist_sites( sites = list( obs = obs, pred1km = preds, CapeHorn = capehorn ), edges = edges, length_col = "Length", save_local = TRUE, lsn_path = lsn.path ) names(site.list) ## View output site.list names names(site.list$obs) ## View column names in obs
The data stored in upDist
are later used to calculate the directional hydrologic
distances between observed and prediction locations in the 'SSN2'
package. If we plot the edges and observations, assigning color based on
the upDist
column, it is apparent that the upstream distance
increases from the outlet to headwater streams, as expected.
ggplot() + geom_sf(data = edges, aes(color = upDist)) + geom_sf(data = site.list$obs, aes(color = upDist)) + coord_sf(datum = st_crs(MF_streams)) + scale_color_viridis_c()
Spatial weights are used to split the tail-up covariance function upstream of network confluences, which allows for the disproportionate influence of one upstream edge over another (e.g., a large stream channel converges with a smaller one) on downstream values. Calculating the spatial weights is a three-step process: 1) calculating the segment proportional influence (PI), 2) calculating the additive function values (AFVs), and 3) calculating the spatial weights. Steps 1) and 2) are undertaken in 'SSNbler', while Step 3) is calculated in the package 'SSN2' when spatial stream-network models are fit.
The segment PI for each edge, $\omega_j$, is defined as the relative influence of the $j$th edge feature on the edge directly downstream. In the following example, $\omega_j$ is based on cumulative watershed area for the downstream node of each edge, $A_j$, which is used as a surrogate for flow volume. However, simpler measures could be used, such as Shreve's stream order (Shreve 1966) or equal weighting, as long as a value exists for every line feature in edges (i.e., missing data are not allowed). It is also preferable to use a column that does not contain values equal to zero, which we explain in more detail below.
When two edges, denoted $j$ and $k$, converge at a node, the segment PI for the $j$th edge is:
$$ \omega_j=\frac{A_j}{A_j + A_k}. $$
Notice that the segment PI values are ratios. Therefore, the sum of the PI values for edges directly upstream of a single node always sum to one. Also note that $\omega_j=0$ when $A_j=0$.
The AFVs for the $j$th edge, $AFV_j$, is equal to the product of the segment PIs found in the path between the edge and the network outlet, including edge $j$ itself.
$$ AFV_j = \prod_{k \in D_j}{\omega_k}. $$
If $\omega_j=0$, the AFV values for edges upstream of the $j$th edge will also be equal to zero. This may not be problematic if the $j$th edge is a headwater segment without an observed site. However, it can have a significant impact on the covariance structure of the tail-up model when the $j$th edge is found lower in the stream network.
AFVs are calculated for every edge in the network
using afv_edges()
, which generally requires these
arguments:
edges
: An sf
object representing edges that has been processed
using lines_to_lsn()
.lsn_path
: The LSN pathname where the edges
reside.infl_col
: The name of the numeric column in edges used to
calculate the segment PI for each edge feature. Missing values are not allowed.segpi_col
: The name of the new column in edges where segment PI
values are stored.afv_col
: The name of the new column in edges where AFVs are
stored.save_local
: A logical indicating whether the updated edges should
be saved to lsn_path
in GeoPackage format. Default is TRUE.Note that we use a variable representing cumulative watershed area that is
already present in edges
(h2oAreaKm2
) to create the segment PI values:
summary(edges$h2oAreaKm2) ## Summarize and check for zeros edges <- afv_edges( edges = edges, infl_col = "h2oAreaKm2", segpi_col = "areaPI", afv_col = "afvArea", lsn_path = lsn.path ) names(edges) ## Look at edges column names summary(edges$afvArea) ## Summarize the AFV column
The AFVs are a product of ratios, which means that the AFVs are always between zero and one ($0 \le AFV \le 1$). The AFV for the most downstream edge in a network will always be one. If AFVs do not meet this requirement, then an error has occurred.
Once the AFVs have been added to edges, they can be calculated for the observations and (if relevant) prediction sites. The AFV for any site is equivalent to the AFV of the edge it resides on. If there are multiple sites on a single edge feature, their AFVs will be equal. Also note that when the AFV for the $i$th site is zero, the covariance between data collected at the $i$th site and every other site will also be zero. For more on additive function values, see @ver2010moving and @peterson2010mixed.
The afv_sites
function is used to create an AFV column in a list of observed
and prediction sites. The inputs include:
sites
: A named list of one or more sf
objects with POINT
geometry, which have been incorporated into the LSN using sites_to_lsn()
.edges
: An sf
object representing edges, which contains afv_col
created using edges_afv()
.afv_col
: The name of the column containing the AFVs in edges
. A
new column with this name will be added to sites
.save_local
: If TRUE
(the default), the updated sites are written
to lsn_path
.lsn_path
: A path to the directory where the LSN created via lines_to_lsn()
is stored. Required when save_local = TRUE
.site.list <- afv_sites( sites = site.list, edges = edges, afv_col = "afvArea", save_local = TRUE, lsn_path = lsn.path ) names(site.list$pred1km) ## View column names in pred1km summary(site.list$pred1km$afvArea) ## Summarize AFVs in pred1km and look for zeros
Each sf
dataset in sites.list
now has an AFV column, afvArea
, which was
generated based on cumulative watershed area. All AFVs should meet the
requirement that they are between zero and one.
The last data processing step is to assemble the SSN
object using the
ssn_assemble
function.
The key arguments in ssn_assemble()
include:
edges
: An sf
object representing edges that has been
processed using lines_to_lsn()
, updist_edges()
, and
afv_edges()
.lsn_path
: The LSN pathname where the edges
and all observation
and prediction site datasets reside.obs_sites:
Optional. A single sf
object representing observed sites, which has
been processed using sites_to_lsn()
, updist_sites()
, and
afv_sites()
. Default is is NULL.preds_list
: Optional. A named list of one or more sf
objects representing
prediction site datasets that have been processed using sites_to_lsn()
, updist_sites()
, and
afv_sites()
. Default is NULL.ssn_path
: The path to a local directory where the output files
will be saved. A .ssn
extension will be added if it is not included.import
: Logical indicating whether the output files should be
imported and returned as an SSN
object.check
: Logical indicating whether the validity of the SSN
object
should be checked using ssn_check()
. Default is TRUE.afv_col
: Character vector containing the names of the AFV columns
that will be checked when check = TRUE
. Columns must be present in
edges
, obs_sites
, and preds_list
, if they are included.mf04_ssn <- ssn_assemble( edges = edges, lsn_path = lsn.path, obs_sites = site.list$obs, preds_list = site.list[c("pred1km", "CapeHorn")], ssn_path = paste0(path, "/MiddleFork04.ssn"), import = TRUE, check = TRUE, afv_col = "afvArea", overwrite = TRUE ) class(mf04_ssn) ## Get class names(mf04_ssn) ## print names of SSN object names(mf04_ssn$preds) ## print names of prediction datasets
The outputs of ssn_assemble()
are stored locally in a directory with
a .ssn
extension and in memory as an object of class SSN
when
import = TRUE
. At a minimum, the new .ssn
directory will contain:
edges.gpkg
: edges in GeoPackage formatsites.gpkg
: observed sites in GeoPackage format (if included)Prediction datasets
: (e.g., CapeHorn.gpkg
and pred1km.gpkg
) in
GeoPackage format (if included)netIDx.dat files
: one text file for each unique subnetwork in edges
containing information describing the topological relationships
between edges.When import = TRUE
, the spatial data stored in the .ssn
directory are
imported into R and stored in memory as an SSN
object. The netIDx.dat
files are combined behind the scenes into an SQLite database named binaryID.db
, which is saved in
the .ssn
directory. Most users will not need to access the
binaryID.db
or the netIDx.dat
files, but a more detailed description
about how the topological relationships are stored can be found in
@peterson2014stars.
The SSN
object itself is a list containing four elements:
edges
: An sf
object representing edges.obs
: An sf
object of observed sites.preds
: Named list of sf
objects representing prediction site datasets.path
: Character string describing the path to the .ssn
where the SSN
components are stored locally.Including observed sites is optional in ssn_assemble
and when they
are missing obs
will contain NA
rather than an sf
object. Most users will likely include observations because they are needed to fit spatial statistical stream-network
models. Nevertheless, this option provides the flexibility to
include additional functionality in future 'SSNbler' versions. More specifically to
create an SSN
object based on existing stream network data, generate
artificial observed locations at various locations
throughout the network, and simulate data at those locations using the
'SSN2' function ssn_simulate
.
The path
element provides a critical link between the .ssn
directory and the SSN
object stored in R. This is important because
the 'SSN2' package reads and writes data to this directory during the
spatial stream-network modelling workflow.
The ssn_assemble
function also adds several important columns to the edges, obs, and
prediction datasets.
edges
:netID
: A unique network identifierobs
and preds
:netID
The network identifier value for the edge the site resides
onpid
: A unique identifier for each measurement (i.e., point feature).locID
: A unique identifier for each location. Note that repeated
measurements at a site will have the same locID
value, but
different pid
values.A netgeom
(short for network geometry) column is also added to each
of the sf objects stored within an SSN
object. The netgeom
column
contains a character string describing the position of each line
(edges
) and point (obs
and preds
) feature in relation to one
another. The format of the netgeom
column differs depending on whether
it is describing a feature with LINESTRING
or POINT
geometry. For
edges
, the format of netgeom
is
$$ \texttt{ENETWORK (netID rid upDist)}, $$ and for sites $$ \texttt{SNETWORK (netID rid upDist ratio pid locID)}. $$
The information stored in these columns is used to keep track of the spatial and topological
relationships in the network. The data used to define netgeom
is
stored in the edges, observed sites, and prediction sites datasets. We
store an additional copy of this critical
information as text in the netgeom
column because it reduces the chances that users will unknowingly make changes to these data, which in turn could change how relationships are
represented in spatial stream-network models.
The 'SSNbler' and 'SSN2' packages do not include generic plotting
functions for SSN
objects because the functionality is already
available in the package 'ggplot2'. As an example, we create a
plot of the SSN
object. The edges are displayed in blue, with the
linewidth proportional to cumulative watershed area column, h2oAreaKm2
. The summer stream
temperature observations (Summer_mn
) are shown using the viridis
color palette, with pred1km
locations shown as smaller white dots:
ggplot() + geom_sf( data = mf04_ssn$edges, color = "medium blue", aes(linewidth = h2oAreaKm2) ) + scale_linewidth(range = c(0.1, 2.5)) + geom_sf( data = mf04_ssn$preds$pred1km, size = 1.5, shape = 21, fill = "white", color = "dark grey" ) + geom_sf( data = mf04_ssn$obs, size = 1.7, aes(color = Summer_mn) ) + coord_sf(datum = st_crs(MF_streams)) + scale_color_viridis_c() + labs(color = "Temperature", linewidth = "WS Area") + theme( legend.text = element_text(size = 8), legend.title = element_text(size = 10) )
Notice the different ways the sf objects for the edges, obs, and pred1km datasets are accessed in the SSN
object and used for plotting in the calls to geom_sf
. Any
valid plotting function for sf objects and ggplot in general can be
used to create attractive plots of SSN
object
components.
The edges, observations, and prediction locations are stored as sf
objects, which allows these data to be accessed, manipulated, deleted,
or replaced in the same way as other sf
objects. The sf
objects found
in an SSN
object can be accessed just like an element in any named
list. In this example, the edges and observed sites are accessed using
calls to mf04_ssn$edges
and mf04_ssn$obs
, respectively. The
prediction sites are accessed a bit differently
(e.g. mf04_ssn$preds$pred1km
) because preds
is itself a named
list.
Users often want to incorporate additional data into the edges,
observations, or prediction datasets to generate AFVs, for use as
model covariates, or to create more meaningful plots. For example, the
US EPA's StreamCat database
[@hill2015stream] contains hundreds of variables describing stream
segment characteristics in the conterminous US. It
is relatively easy to join these and other data to the sf
objects in R
before or after the SSN
object is assembled. An online search
will show there are numerous functions available for joining an sf
object to a variety of data formats (e.g. data.frames
, tibbles
,
vectors
, sp
objects). However, if the result of the join is not an
sf
object, it must be converted to one before running additional
functions in 'SSNbler' and 'SSN2' (see st_as_sf
in the 'sf'
package).
We can now use the mf04_ssn object to fit a spatial stream-network model relating mean summer temperature to elevation (ELEV_DEM
) and mean annual precipitation (AREAWTMAP
), with the exponential tail-up, spherical tail-down, and Gaussian Euclidean covariance functions. Notice that additive = "afvArea"
, which is the column we created earlier using
the afv_edges
and afv_sites
functions.
library(SSN2) ## Generate hydrologic distance matrices ssn_create_distmat(mf04_ssn) ## Fit the model ssn_mod <- ssn_lm( formula = Summer_mn ~ ELEV_DEM + AREAWTMAP, ssn.object = mf04_ssn, tailup_type = "exponential", taildown_type = "spherical", euclid_type = "gaussian", additive = "afvArea" ) summary(ssn_mod)
As expected, there is strong evidence ($p < 0.001$) that elevation is negatively related to mean summer temperature, while there is moderate evidence ($p \approx 0.05$) that precipitation is negatively related to mean summer temperature. To learn more about fitting spatial stream-network models using the 'SSN2' package, visit the package website at https://usepa.github.io/SSN2/.
labs <- knitr::all_labels() labs <- setdiff(labs, c("setup", "get-labels"))
Any scripts or data that you put into this service are public.
Add the following code to your website.
For more information on customizing the embed code, read Embedding Snippets.